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The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:53 am
by Ark
The Seraphim Fleet had long since returned to their berth near Dawnvale for the winter. there was one major waterway that led to the harbor were the fleet was at anchor, it had become known by the locals as "White wing Harbor" because of the fleets flag and was still undergoing some construction in areas, mostly additional crew quarters and the like, the Lady was too kind.

Ark was walking down the large expanse of water from the harbor out to sea, well it was no longer water but Ice. Ark learned in a very short time how to manipulate ice and snow, it felt like riding a horse, like he knew it already but just realized it, it was very confusing to say the least. As he walked down the expanse of water it turned to ice shore to shore in front of him as he walked and even frosted the grass, plants, and trees just along the shore. The markings on his unnaturally white arms glowed a faint purple as he walked.

Some small children ran and collected this new found snow and began hurling it and one another, their mother close by watching to make sure nobody played too rough. She looked up and waved at Ark and he let a smile play and waved back as he continued walking down the river. A voice came over his shoulder, a cold voice, another woman.

V: "I would have been done by now, I also would not have had to actually be here, nor would I make pleasantries with the locals when your concentration should be on the spell."

Ark looked over only slightly and caught a bit of the white hair in the wind before looking forward continuing what he was doing.

A: "its my first time, and it makes me feel better to be here, the locals too, I miss normal people."

V: "so your not normal then?"

A: "not anymore, some things that are oh so simple are just out of reach for people like us"

V: "you make it sound like its a high price to pay."

A: "it was too high for you."

V: ". . ."

A: "adventurers, mages, warriors, all kinds of people flock to Haven, well the Vanguard alliance now, to live."

V: "so?"

A: "this is not were people go to live its where they go to die, how many of our friends got to grow old or die happy."

V: "i am sure the Dwarves die very happy, Orcs too probably."

A: "you get my point, how many now lay with you."

V: ". . ."

Some people were still dragging their boats out of the water ahead of Ark, he would stop and wait for them to be clear before proceeding on and icing the river. he didn't mind waiting and would shout conversations back and forth on the shore with them while he waited for them to finish. everyone was very pleasant despite the oncoming winter.

V: "i would have just iced the boats over."

A: "it is really no wonder why people called you a witch."

V: "slaughter a whole group of bandits and nobody bats and eye, but raise one as a zombie and everyone looses their mind."

Ark began to laugh slightly as he heard footsteps running up behind him, he turned around slowly to find a Dawnvale citizen running up behind him, he slid to an awkward stop on the ice in front of Ark. "excuse me I was just curious. . .I am sorry were you talking with someone?" Ark stood on the ice alone and looked around, only him. "nope only talking to myself, how can I help you?" the man looked around and continued. "some of the kids back there ate some of the snow and we were worried that it might do something to them!" Ark chuckled "no no no its perfectly safe, the same as normal snow just a little early." the man breathed a sigh of relief "Oh thank goodness." he turned and began trotting off back down the ice and shouted back as he went. "thanks a lot we appreciate what your doing." Ark nodded, a slightly pointless gesture as there was no way the man could see it.

He laughed slightly again as he turned and continued his way down the river, turning it to ice as he went.

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 12:22 pm
by Ark
Ark had just about completed his task, the river before him began to open up and the land parted to reveal a large expanse of water. . .Ark thought for a moment, if this sea, ocean, whatever, had a name he could not for the life of him recall what it was. As he was pondering this a motion caught his eye. He looked over and noticed a local trying to get his attention on the bank of the river, beckoning him close. Under such circumstances Ark was accustomed to cautiously advancing with sword in hand and a plan of escape. . .however he was deep within the vanguard alliance and not worried. he walked over.

The man was middle aged and of unimpressive appearance, despite the fact that he seemed bundled in many layers his face betrayed the fact that he was still quite chilly. Ark smiled at the man. "How can I help you?" The man smiled back and tucked his chin lower into his clothes and rubbed his hands for warmth. "Beg pardon but why exactly are you doing that?" he gestured to the water and Ark's gaze followed his hand before returning to the man. "A trick passed onto me, a friend of mine used to do this in a place called Avanguard, block the passes for the winter to make travel nearly impossible, the Lady liked the idea and let me attempt the same thing for Dawnvale." the man hesitated for a second, apparently Ark didn't quite answer the question right and he didn't want to insult him by asking the same one again. "I meant why not just let the weather take care of it, let nature do it you know?"

Ark finally got the question. "Ohhh, well you see its a convenience thing. see, Dawnvale is pretty much buttoned up for the winter fairly early in expectation of the snow and ice, nobody really travels or trades during these times. however guards and patrols still have to stay at their post full time until it does finally begin to snow and ice over. by doing this everyone knows exactly when travel is going to slow. people can prepare ahead of time and guard and patrol crews can switch over to their winter schedule immediately." The man seemed to nod a few times in acceptance of this, and shake a little from the cold. "Well I wont keep you any longer then, I am quite cold and wish to avoid the sight of ice and snow for as long as I can" The man smiled, wished ark a good day, and turned away soon disappearing into the woods.

Ark seemed to stand there for a moment as he lost sight of the man, and tried to think pleasant thoughts, he was sure the man was not a bandit moving to return to his fellow highwaymen who were at this moment moving into position in the bushes along the river bank to ambush him, waiting for their plant to remove himself from the line of fire so they could strike. . . . .he still backed away watching the bushes.

V: "it ruins a plan if you tell everyone you meet the point of the plan."

A: "I need to start trusting people if I expect them to trust me."

V: "Is that why you backed away slowly?"

A: "with a spell charged yes indeed, I may be trying to trust people but I am not a moron."

He turned back and looked over the expanse of black frigid looking water.

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 3:49 am
by Ark
Ark began humming a low tune to himself is he looked out over the black and unforgiving looking water, but he could not hold it very well and kept messing it up.

V: "you seem to have a lot on your mind?"

A: ". . ."

Ark ended his attempt at a hum with a sigh and looked down at his hands. the static of purple and white lightning snapped and crackled in the air and slight swirls of wind and snow played at the ground. He began walking out to sea. the water turned to ice in front of him as he walked, but the sea got rougher and began to crack the ice, the static around him strengthened into whips of lightning that also began to snap at the ice around him. he kept walking with purpose out into the black and cold away from the shore, the ice expanding out from him, thicker and faster, every time a whip of lightning cracked it or a wave broke through it froze harder and farther.

V: "upset?"

A: ". . ."

At this point he was beginning to slow and struggle, the white caps were getting taller, the sea rougher. but he clenched his hands and kept walking, at a slightly slower but still purposeful pace. eventually stopping as a large wave threatened to prematurely end whatever it was he was attempting. he put his hands up willing it to stop, the wind ceased around him and his eyes began to change from their normal hue of blue to that of one more violet in color. With a violent pulse the wave was frozen solid in its tracks, then torn a sunder with jabs of purple white lightning that struck out from around him seemingly with an anger of their own.

But it was only one wave, in a sea of many, and just is it was struck down and cast aside more took it's place, after a few fights with the cold and the black Ark finally did smile. His purple eyes changed from intense to relaxed, the ice around him began to crack and shatter and the lightning seemed to franticly and indiscriminately lash out at everything around him. If she did say anything it was drowned out by the cold and the black that slammed into him from all sides as he closed his eyes.

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 9:01 pm
by Ark
Ark drifted in the currents deep beneath the waters surface. he didn't need to breathe, nor did he need to eat and drink but he still enjoyed it, a form of nostalgia from a time not long gone by. he was aware of being cold but didn't feel it. nor was he sure just how deep he was but he could feel the pressure, he moved his fingers slightly, it was difficult. but he still had some air in his lungs and that would keep him from sinking too far. so there he lay, or floated, or drifted, eyes closed.

after some time of drifting he finally did begin to stir and opened his eyes. he saw nothing but black, it was very disorienting, he didn't know where he was and now not quite sure which direction he had to swim to get back to the surface. he pulled a single coin out of his pocket, held it out in front of him, and let it go. concluding the direction it "fell" must be down he decided to swim the opposite to go "up". After a while he began to see light, a thought entered his mind but he quickly brushed it aside, the notion of him being "dead" or one of "heading toward the light" to enter the ether was very much not true, he was perfectly capable of crossing back and forth and knew what both sides looked and felt like.

However the light got brighter as he closed the distance, but distance in nothing but black was hard to discern, and if he was moving towards it or it towards him was hard to tell. He was quite surprised when a hand reached out towards him, but the surprise faded as he noticed the hand looked very much like his own, a very pale almost white with black markings on it, he smirked and grabbed hold.

As he broke the waters surface he looked around, no sign of anyone, no ships or boats, he did a quick look around and spotted land not to far away. it occurred to him as he swam towards it that this might not actually be anywhere near the vanguard alliance. . .he swam cautiously towards it. . .however one does such a thing.

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 6:30 pm
by Ark
some time had passed before he neared the shore, a slight beach, the sand was hard and cold in response to the winter that was upon it. Ark stood before he got to the shore and walked out of the water, he didn't want to get sand all over his damp clothes. he smiled, kind of nice being somewhere where the only thing that mattered was what was right in front of your face. his clothes were soaked and quite waterlogged. he removed his coat and wrung it out as best he could before throwing it over a log the size of a tree that had clearly washed up on shore and been there for some time. same with the rest of his apparel save his pants and boots.

Smiling he sat on the log looking back over the water, the sky was grey and the water still black, a cold wind whipped across the beach and dried him and his attire. not much had changed, but he felt better.

V: "you seem in a better mood."

A: "I am actually."

V: "any reason in particular?"

A: "not sure. . ."

As he sat and thought about it he heard a twig snap from the woods behind him, one of many that began to snap and break.

V: "you have company."

A: "vanguard?"

V: "not sure."

Ark nodded to himself a few times in acknowledgement. he slowly stood without turning around and purposefully began putting his attire back on. he had finished buttoning up his vest and threw his coat on before standing there still looking out at the sea. purple white static began to play in his hands, but he snuffed it. best to see what's going on first.

He never got a chance to see, as he turned around the only thing he saw was a large object, a club? a branch? smacking him square in the face, his essence was pulling away from him to avoid the danger and would soon drag his physical from with it avoiding the attack, he stopped it and took the blow, he blacked out.

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 5:07 am
by Ark
Ark had been conscious for some time. though he did his best not to stir, move, or show any other signs of it. his head ached, his hands were tied behind him and he was sitting against a wall of some kind. voices were talking, he didn't understand the language but it was guttural. he risked a single eye opening for a second.

Two Ga'vin, a small "building", natural materials, a single "door" visible.

He though for a moment about what to do, the situation was not that bad actually. he moved his hands behind his back slightly, bad knots, he could get out of them. he ran some fingers over the wall behind him, felt like stone, also not a problem. As he thought about this though one of the voices raised and sounded angry. he risked another eye and even though it was not looking at him one of the Ga'vin was pointing in his direction while talking to the other, the knife it was pointing with unsettled Ark, he got the gist of the conversation. he could escape but perhaps he didn't have the time. . .

Ark glared a single purple eye at the Ga'vin and the effects were fairly instant, he tried not to smirk as he closed his eyes again, continuing his charade. he heard the Ga'vins anger lower and be replaced with slight groaning. Ark was glad his eyes were closed because apparently the Ga'vin was not able to keep a recent meal down. he heard them exit the "building". Even being tied up Ark still had plenty available to him, he placed his hands against the wall behind him as best he could. . .a slight frost began to build up in the stones behind him, bits of the stone began to crack away, wouldn't take long.

He thought for a moment as the rock cracked away into nothingness behind him, he dismissed the idea and figured he had to take the chance, but he still hoped that there wasn't anything, or anyone, behind this building. As the last bit of stone cracked away into a hole large enough for him to fit through he slowly leaned onto his back and eased through slightly. Relieved that nothing, and nobody was outside, he slipped through. Once outside he slowly made his way to his feet in a low crouch and stepped through his arms to get his hands in front of him. Despite everything his luck was pretty good, it was a fairly wooded area and there was decent wood barricade stretching out from either side of the building he had just occupied. both would do well to cover his escape.

As he made his way into the woods he didn't get a few feet away before he stopped in his tracks, a purple white static built around him and he turned slowly, angrily, towards the camp he had just come from. He seemed to snap out of that feeling pretty quick though, and decided to just keep going, no need to start a fight or raise an alarm unless it was necessary. He was soon out of his bonds and making his way through the woods, but that brought to light an entirely new problem.

where the heck was he?

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 10:45 am
by Ark
It had been some time as Ark continued to wander, it was easy enough to maintain a direction but for all he knew he was maintaining a course away from the vanguard alliance. . . no matter though. He he did feel a pang of regret, he never did tell anyone where he was going. . . he pushed the thought aside, no help now. The tribe he escaped from either didn't follow him, couldn't follow him, or were doing such a good job of following him he didn't notice. . . it really could have been any option Ark was rubbish at tracking and scouting.

But eventually he did find a road, or what constituted one wherever he was, it had been very muddy at some point and wagons had left ruts, now that the temperature was dropping the ruts became hard and annoying, you would be faster traveling next to the road then on it in a wagon. He looked both ways before simply setting off in a direction, fifty fifty chance of picking a good direction, and one hundred percent chance that it would lead somewhere. He did have to follow beside the road though, nearly twisted his ankle on the darn ruts and decided being just off the road might be safer anyway. sticks and branches got in his way but a wave of his hand was all that was required to manipulate the essence just beyond his reach and shread them.

for now though, he enjoyed the journey, he would reach a destination soon enough.

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:39 am
by Ark
After some time of travel he finally came upon a destination, and surprising nobody at all least of all Ark it was a Farm, just like the many that he was sure dotted the countryside. The road he was on did not stop at the farm but continued past it, useful. Ark stood off the road at the edge of the farm for about half an hour simply observing. The number of buildings, the location of said buildings and fields, how dense the woods around were, the number of people he could see and hear and their movements if he saw them. Once he had painted a mental picture in case he had to run, fight, or defend, he stepped out onto the road and wandered up casually to the building he had observed to be the main farm house. he didn't have any weapons on him to draw or hide, material ones anyway, that could prove useful if the inhabitance didn't trust him.

Ark knocked on the door and after a little bit of time and quite a bit of muffled conversation a middle aged man opened the door slowly to peer at who was there, upon seeing Ark and looking him over he opened the door satisfied with what he saw and smiled in greeting.

The following conversation gave Ark very useful information:
-he was just within the borders of the vanguard alliance, good.
-the tribe he ran into was one of a few that would occasionally harass locals, would have to deal with that some other time.
-he got directions that would lead him back deeper within the alliance, also good.
-those directions led him past an area people claimed were haunted or something, not so good, would investigate.

After having wished the man well, and having paid him for the trouble, information, and because Ark liked to give away money to good people, much to the irritation of his companions. He set off down the road and back within the confines of the vanguard alliance. this left mixed feelings with him, but after determining that these shackles had certain opportunities he pushed the thought aside and decided to focus on the something that lied down the path ahead of him. . .

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:36 am
by Ark
After not too much time on the road Ark was beginning to think that he was approaching the destination that was frightening the locals. there was not magic or undead or the classic signs of evil, but rather what Ark perceived to be the leftovers of magic, quite a few dead trees, and the temperature was lower then it should be. But Ark did not seem to sense any magic or anything unnatural, and that's what led him to believe that whatever had caused this had either already been dealt with, a distinct possibility within alliance borders, or moved on.

As he shred a path towards what he perceived to be epicenter of whatever had happened a slight eeriness set in him. it was very cold and there was a slight unnatural fog, the dense dead brush and trees seemed to suffocate him and he did his best to keep telling himself that he was sure whatever had done this was long gone. . .yup, long gone, he was sure. As the forest seemed to just abruptly end and open up into a fog covered field he was very relieved to be out of it. after squinting and trying to see he waved his hand in slight annoyance and a few of the runes on his arm glowed in response, a blustery wind picked up, like the kind the signals an oncoming storm and drove the fog from the field.

Ark was fairly surprised at what he saw and very quickly put an end to the wind. he smiled and began walking across the clearing. In this clearing was a small farm, a single field to plant and harvest food, a small shed, and a house proper complete with a porch and a single rocking chair. . but it was all old, falling apart, and sections had begun to collapse. A few little spots of sticks, straw, and mud dotted the area. Ark immediately recognized the remains of the little spriggan like constructs that had tended to the area. But with the magic that had kept them animate gone they had simply collapsed back into their natural materials.

Ark smiled and kneeled over the remains of one. He held an open hand over it, One of the runes lit a faint purple and static flickered around it. . .the pile seemed to wiggle and twitch but did not reanimate. Ark smiled again as he snuffed the magic, he patted the mound of materials before standing and walking up to the dilapidated farm house. As he walked up to the door he looked over at the rocking chair, he pushed on the back of it to start it rocking before opening the door and proceeding inside.

The place was empty, not only were their no signs of life but everything was gone. . .Ark had done a thorough job of taking everything of importance from this place last time he was here. He walked over in front of the fireplace and peered into it. . .dark, cold, and empty, not used in a long time. He sat down in front of it, crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and focused on continuing to complete the essence merge he had been trying to accomplish for over a year.

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 12:03 am
by Ark
Ark didn't sit in meditation for long, he new something had changed once he really began to focus on it and think about it. he opened his eyes and looked down at his arms, they had changed. not physically, they were still snow white with black markings on them, but the essence had changed. what had started out so long ago as one essence, had recently been gifted a substantial amount of another that had even caused physical changes, but had never merged perfectly with the original, until now. This caused quite the mental debate in his head, was he even Ark? or a new being made from the essence of Ark and another? he continued to mull it over in the excitement of finally achieving his goal, he was not sure when it had happened or what he did but he was happy none the less.

He stood up and paced back and forth rapidly for a moment as he raced through thoughts and feelings. so deep in thought that he didn't notice the crack in the floor till his foot broke through the floor up to his ankle. he cursed as he yanked his boot free. As he kneeled and rubbed his ankle he looked down at the hole in confusion, this was a single story house. . .and didn't have any cellar that he was aware of. He took a small piece of rubble and dropped it through the hole. it took a bit of time before it finally impacted on something.

Ark looked around, there had to be a door or something. It took some searching but he eventually found a door in the floor that had been hidden beneath a rug, cliché, but effective. As he peered down a set of wooden stairs that led into the darkness he held his hand out, lightning began to spark in it, then ice froze solid over it, trapping the lightning within. we snatched the makeshift torch out of the air and proceeded down into the darkness, he closed the door behind him as he did.

The wooden boards spiraled down against stone walls, like a giant well almost, and seemed to go down very deep before ending at what did indeed look like a well bottom, flat and dirt, but much to big and why build a house over it. A large cave entrance opened up before him, dug into the side of whatever it was he descended. he proceeded down it for a while before being stopped by a wooden door, it was not locked and was covered in dust, it had obviously been left alone for some time. As he turned the handle and pushed the door open with a drawn out creak he was greeted with more darkness. As he entered the room he was fairly impressed. . .

. . .some time had passed since Ark had found this study, library, combination of both? whatever. and he had made a few more sparks trapped in ice and had placed them around providing decent light. the door had opened up to a decently sized and furnished circular room filled with tables with various experiments and open books that had been left unfinished, a single wide hallway led off of this that had shelves on either side that were full of books and stretched to the ceiling, this led to a smaller circular room that was also lined with bookcases but had a desk and chair facing the direction of the hallway.

Ark held an open book in one hand and scanned over others on the shelves with his free one, a lot of these books were An'dar. . .He knew she had been trapped in one of their libraries for some time but had no idea she was able to take this much with her, not all of it was mind you but quite a bit. Ark slashed a vertical line of lightning in the air in front of him before parting it into a small gateway, a book flew out of it and he snuffed the spell leaving the book to just float there, it was large and beat up but it was also important, he waved his hand and it opened to the first blank page. he looked down at the open book he was holding in his hand, it burst into purple white lightning and disintegrated in his hands leaving only a rune made of lightning behind, this rune floated over to the book and burned itself into it.

Ark began spending all his time reading through book after book, disintegrating them as he want and saving the important information. Occasionally he would find personal information, notes or journals, he memorized some of it, took others to heart, and then completely destroyed them saving nothing. Those things were better off in his head and not written down. He was beginning to find a trend with some of the information she had been working with, trying to cast a spell or some such to retrieve lost friends, himself for a time. He made sure to keep track of that as he worked.

So there he stayed for days, no sleep, no food, just reading through and archiving the countless books that lay before him, trying to unravel what exactly she had been trying to do.

Re: The snow and ice is coming.

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:25 am
by Ark
*at the event*

Ark lay on an old piece of wood, his coat pulled closed around him, one knee up in the air, hand clutching a very battered old sword across his chest. it was getting dark and the chill of night was beginning to overtake him, night is when the monsters come out after all, and some, maybe even himself, would not make it through this one. . .he lay starring up at the sky for a while longer.

*some time later*

There was a crunch of sticks under his foot, he once again had departed the wildlands, and his fellow captains, returning to the task he had set for himself. much progress had been made, and he felt very close to achieving his goal, and finishing the spell that had been left for him. . .not left on purpose, but everything would work out in the end, he was fairly sure of it.